Where family law meets family life

Marilyn Stowe is the founder of Stowe Family Law, the UK’s largest specialist family law firm. She started this blog in 2007 to help people going through divorce or other family disputes.
Stowe Family Law continues to publish informative stories and advice to support our readers.

‘Take him to the cleaners,’ common law man and wife, a quickie divorce, David Milburn, Managing Partner at the Stowe Family Law office in Harrogate shares his top 10 myths about divorce. With my years of experience as a divorce lawyer, I have learnt to always expect the unexpected. But the thing that surprises me…

Stowe Family Law

Founded in 1982, Stowe Family Law has grown to become the UK’s largest standalone family law firm with offices in Central London, throughout Yorkshire, across Greater Manchester & Cheshire, Hertfordshire, Hampshire & Kent.

Latest Posts

It’s a point that I’m sure I’ve made here before: family law is inextricably linked with human affairs, right up to the level of major national and international events. In recent years, for example, we have seen the family courts in this country get to grips with the problem of children being embroiled in international…

So, not everything you read in the media is necessarily true. Who would have thought it? OK, I realise that that was a somewhat frivolous (not to mention trite) opening sentence for a post on a serious topic (and it also begins with the word ‘so’), but I stand by it. In these days of…

As I reported here, the seventh annual report on the implementation of Law Commission recommendations has been published. In the field of family law, there are three very important recommendations that have not yet been implemented, and that are awaiting a Government decision on implementation. They comprise reforms to clarify the law on financial remedies,…

David Milburn, Managing Partner of the Stowe Family Law Harrogate office joins us on the blog today to answer a question that our family lawyers are asked frequently. Question: I’m a stay at home mum with two young children. My husband is the breadwinner and wants a divorce. How can I possibly support myself and…

‘Take him to the cleaners,’ common law man and wife, a quickie divorce, David Milburn, Managing Partner at the Stowe Family Law office in Harrogate shares his top 10 myths about divorce. With my years of experience as a divorce lawyer, I have learnt to always expect the unexpected. But the thing that surprises me…

One might think that it would be easy to decide what to do with an order that a father makes financial provision for his child after it has been decided that the child should live with him. Surely, the order should simply be discharged? Well, it’s not necessarily quite as straightforward as that, as the…

“Domestic abuse has been widespread in England and Wales for many years.” Not, perhaps, the best way to begin a serious report on domestic abuse. Domestic abuse is not a recent phenomenon. It has, of course, been widespread since time immemorial. The thing that has changed in recent times is that society has recognised the…

The case PA v CK & Others contains so many classic issues and facts typical of a protracted contact dispute: almost unrelenting litigation, ‘custodial’ parent in a new relationship, child ‘alienated’ against ‘non-custodial’ parent, ‘non-custodial’ parent refusing to accept findings against him, numerous attempts by the court and various professionals to resolve matters, but without…

Today marks the close of the very first National Surrogacy week, with various organisations involved including Surrogacy UK and Brilliant Beginnings who are both non-profit surrogacy agencies. Despite high-profile surrogacy cases including Kim Kardashian-West, Elton John, Nicole Kidman and more recently Tom Daly, it is still widely misunderstood. For some insight into the legal complexities,…

Nearly every nation in the world allows its residents to divorce. The procedure and requirements to obtain a divorce, however, vary greatly between jurisdictions. Some countries allow divorce by consent (also known as no-fault divorce), including the Netherlands, Scotland and France. Others, such as Ireland, do not. Starting this week, we are running a new…